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Evelyn (Reynolds) Hulsey
Luna, NM
Interview: October 26, 2010
I am Evelyn Hulsey. I was born in Luna, New Mexico on September 7, 1918 and have lived in this area all my life.
My father was Amasa Reynolds, and my mother was Minnie Lee Reynolds. My father’s family came from Utah and he was born there. My mother was raised in Nutrioso, Arizona. My father farmed and had cattle. Mother raised seven children.
I went to school here in Luna. I remember in the 8th grade there were only two boys besides me. We were in the little room. I think there were about 32 kids altogether in 1930. I always liked school and my teachers.
I had two older sisters and when they got ready to go to high school we all moved to Eagar where my father had a house and we could be closer to the school.
Most everybody in Luna farmed in this little valley. There was not much farming outside the valley because there was no irrigation. We farmed and raised cattle, and my father and three brothers took care of all of that. My dad had a ranch where he ran cattle north of Luna. He had about 30 or 40 head. He didn’t have a lot of cattle because he mostly farmed. We used to spend winters in Eagar and summers up here.
I got to help my mother prepare food for the winter. I remember helping her make cheese. I also did housework and I had to do dishes most of the time which I just hated. Growing up it seemed like the least thing to do. I didn’t have to do any outside chores except maybe feed the chickens once in awhile.
People didn’t get out much in those days. My uncle and aunt, Will and Myrtle Laney, owned the store here. They had groceries and dry goods. They would go to Silver City, NM (100 miles through the mountains) quite often to get supplies. Once in awhile they would take us kids with them, which was really a big treat. My uncle and aunt were really good to the people here and if they needed anything in Silver they would get it for them and bring it back. I remember their truck. It looked big then but now it would be nothing.
I also went to visit my grandmother Lee in Nutrioso. I had cousins there my age and we had good times together. Socially the communities of Alpine, Nutrioso and Luna did things together. If anyone was having a dance or celebration everyone would go. We had Christmas parties and holiday celebrations and of course church meetings.
My father was Bishop for Luna (LDS) and when I was four he went on a church mission to Oregon and the Northwest. The leading Bishop in St.Johns asked for volunteers to go on missions so my father volunteered himself. He still was bishop during the two years he was away. I wonder how my mother survived. Dad’s brother lived across the street from us, and he would come over almost everyday and see how Mom was doing and if she needed anything. Everybody was helpful.
In the ‘30s and ‘40s during the ‘great depression’ we didn’t have much but we always had plenty. We had a garden and my dad would raise hay and cattle. We always had plenty to eat. We didn’t know we were poor.
I was married in 1940 to Bufford Hulsey. He was a rancher, and lived about seven miles north of Luna. His family was all ranchers. My husband would be out on the ranch all day and sometimes he wanted me to go out there with him. He had grown up on a horse. I could get on and ride but I never learned to really ride. I wasn’t a tomboy. My husband tried to get me to herd the cattle. He’d tell me “the horse knows how to turn a cow,” and I said, “I know the horse can but I can’t.”
My father, Melvin Swapp, and others who lived in Luna at that time all helped build the original Luna Lake Dam with a team of horses and a scraper. At that time it was built about half-way across the lake that exists today. Another dam was later built, enlarging the lake. This is why Luna, NM has original irrigation rights to part of the water from Luna Lake, AZ. Arizona and New Mexico weren’t States yet, and since men from Luna built the dam, it was named after our town. This was in 1892, and today the Luna irrigation project is called, “The 1892 Luna Irrigation Ditch Association”.